Golf meter



July 17, 1934. G. W. BICKERTON GOLIF METER Filed March 9, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet l w m m T. A

July 17, 1934. G w B|KERT0N 1,967,076

GOLF METER Filed March 9, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 A TTORNE Y.

Patented July 17, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in golf stroke indicating apparatus, and more particularly relates to that type of apparatus which includes a captive ball preferably simulating a .5 golf ball which is adapted to .be projected in flight by being struck with a golf club used in the usual Way, and the principal aim of this invention is to provide such an apparatus with mechanism whereby, whenever the ball is projected, the distance, and angle of departure to the right or left is recorded.

Another object of this invention is to provide a golf stroke indicating apparatus which is relatively simple, durable and inexpensive in construction, and positive in operation, and to provide a durable mechanism which registers accurately the distance and the deviation to the right or left in the flight of the captive ball.

A further object is to provide a miniature fairway, which includes a position for teeing, :a straight-away down to a hole position, a miniature ballpositioned at point of teeing ed on the miniatureiair-way, and means for carrying this miniature ball down the miniature fair-way and indicating its direction upon the miniature'fairway in order to show the accurate direction taken by the captive ball driven by a player striking thelcaptive ball in the usual way by a golf club.

A further object is to hold the miniature ball in a fixed position which indicates upon the miniature fair-way the result of the stroke used inprojecting the captive-ball by the player.

A still further object is to provide means for releasing the mechanism so that the miniature 35 ball is automatically returned to its tee position and the captive ball automatically returned to a position for driving.

With the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds,'the

0 invention resides in the combination and :arrangement of parts :and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed, can

45 be 'made within the scope of what is claimed,

without departing from the spirit of the invention.

The invention is illustrated 'in the accompanying drawings, wherein:-

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the device.

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the device with the cover and miniature fair-way removed.

Figure 3 :is a side elevation of the device with its side casing removed.

Figured is a top plan view of the device with cover removed, showing movement of mechanism when captive ball is driven to the left.

Figure '5 is a cross section taken on line 5-5 of Figure 4.

By referring to the drawings it will be seen that there is provided a relatively flat casing l which has positioned upon its upper surface and parallel to one of its edges a miniature course 2 indicating a tee position 3 and a green 4. It will be seen that there is also provided a fair-way 5 upon which there is provided suitable markings 6 indicating distance down the fair-way 5. It will also be seen that'there is provided a miniature ball '7 which is shown in Figure 1 at the tee position 3. It will also be seen that there is provided a captive ball 8 which is positioned upon a support 9 secured to a cable-1'0.

By referring to Figure 2 it will be seen that the cable 10 is secured to and wound around a drum 11. Attached to this drum 11 there is a relatively smaller secondary drum 12 to which is attached a secondary cable 13. An extreme outer end 14 of the secondary cable 13 is secured to a spring controlled drum 15. It will be seen that this secondary cable 13 is provided with a knot 16.

When the captive ball :8 has been projected from its support 9 the cable 10 is drawn outwardly with the flight of the captive ball 8. In order to make clear and to show the coaction and relation of the various parts comprising this device let it be assumed that the captive ball is driven straight away so that it does not in any way deviate to the right or left. In this event .90 the cable 10 will not come in contact with a hook actuating pulley 17 or slice actuating pulley 1 8. The drum 11 will be rotated in an anti-clockwise direction while the secondary drum 12 will be revolved in a similar -direction.- As the secondary cable 13 is wound upon the secondary drum 12 the knot 1 6 is drawn against an extreme end 19 of a lever 20 as it passes through an opening 21 in the lever 20. The lever 20 is now rotated clockwise on a pivot 50, which is secured to a bracket 51, a distance relative tothe force exerted upon the captive ball 8. At the extreme end of this travel the lever 20 now becomes securely attached to an outer surface 22 of a gear segment 23 due to :an action of a pawl 24 which is secured upon the lever 20 and under spring tension due to a spring 25. It will be noticed that the pawl 24 will not interfere with the clockwise rotation of the lever '20 but engages when the lever is drawn anti-clockwise by means of a spring 26 which is attached to the lever and returns the lever 20 against a stop 33. As the spring 26 pulls the lever 20 anti-clockwise due to the action of the pawl 24 the gear segment 23 is now rotated anti-clockwise. It will be seen that there is provided a gear 2'7 which meshes with the gear segment 23 and is attached to a drum 28 causing the same to be rotated in an anticlockwise direction. Frictionally engaged with the outer surface of this drum 28 there is provided a cord 29 which passes over a pair of.

idlers 30, then over a pair of sheaves 31 which are mounted upon the outer ends of movable arms 32.

By referring to Figures 1 and 2 it will be seen that the miniature ball '7, which is secured tothe cord 29, will be carried up the fair-way 5. The action of the various parts have thus far been described in reference to a straight away drive of the captive ball 8. In order to repeat the drive of the captive ball 8 it will be necessary to disengage the pawl 24. This is done by pressing inwardly upon a release rod 34 which contacts a release end 35 of the pawl 24. As the pawl 24 is disengaged a spring 36, which is secured to the gear segment 23 through an arm 37, pulls the gear segment 23 and connecting parts back to a stop 38. It is obvious that when this action has taken place the cord 29 has been set in motion thereby returning the miniature ball 7 to the tee position 3. The device is now in condition for replaying.

By referring to Figures 2 and 4 let it be assumed that the captive ball 8 has been driven to the left, commonly called a hook. In this event the cable 10 comes in contact with the hook actuating pulley 17. The hook actuating pulley 17 is rotated in an anti-clockwise direction thereby causing a pinion 39, which is fastened to the hook actuating pulley 17, to engage a gear causing the same to rotate in a clockwise direction. Attached to this gear 40 there is provided a link 41 which'has its outer end 42 pivoted to a lever 43, causing the lever 43 to be rotated in an anti-clockwise direction about a pivot 44.

By referring to Figures 4 and 5 it will be seen that on an extreme outer end 45 of the lever 43 there is provided a pin 46 which is guided within an arcuate slot 47 in a cam plate 48. This cam plate 48 is secured to the arm 37 and an arm 49 by any suitable means. As the above movement is taking place in reference to the lever 43 it will be seen that the knot 16 on the secondary cable 13 engages the extreme end 19 of the lever 20 causing the same to be rotated clockwise upon the pivot 50. After the lever 20 has reached its maximum travel, due to the force of the drive of the captive ball 8, the pawl 24 engages the outer surface 22 of the gear segment 23, thereby causing the gear segment 23 to be rotated in an anti-clockwise direction due to the pull of the spring 26 which returns the lever 20 back to the stop 33.

It is obvious that as the gear segment 23 was caused to move in an anti-clockwise direction the gear 2'7 with the drum 28 was rotated in an anti-clockwise direction which caused the cord 29 to carry the miniature ball 7 up the fair-way 5. While these actions have been taking place the cam plate 48 has been rotated anti-clockwise, thereby causing a lateral movement of the lever 43 due to the pin 46 having been moved in the arc slot 4'7 to the left side of center line of the pivot 50. As the lever 43 was pushed laterally the pivot 44, which is secured to a manipulating lever 52 which is pivoted at its extreme end 53 by means of a pivot 54, caused the lever 52 to be slightly rotated in an anti-clockwise direction. It will be seen that this manipulating lever 52 has pivoted thereto links 55, the outer ends of which are pivoted to the movable arms 32 by means of pivot pins 56. These movable arms 32 have their inner ends pivoted by means of pivot pins 57. It is obvious that as the manipulating lever 52 is caused to rotate laterally the links'55 have caused the outer ends of the movable arms 32 to move laterally in the direction of the pivot point 44. By referring to Figure 4 it will now be seen that the miniature ball 7 has been carried up the fair-way 5 and to the left side which indicates a hook as above mentioned. The action of the device has now been completed. In order to reset the device, the release rod 34 is pressed inwardly releasing the pawl 24 and also moving a release lever 58 which disengages a dog 59 from a ratchet wheel 60 which is secured to the gear 40. By releasing the ratchet wheel 60 the gear 40 is allowed to rotate in an anti-clockwise direction, due to a centering device consisting of a cable 61, a pulley 62, a lever 63, and a spring 64. This sets the ratchet wheel 60 so that the dog 59 is now in a neutral position on the ratchet wheel 60. After the release rod 34 has been pressed inwardly the device takes the position as shown in Figure 2. In order to bring the manipulating lever 52 back to a central position there is provided a hair-pin spring 66 which operates to bring the manipulating lever 52 alternately to a central position. It will also be seen that there is provided a stop 67 which is positioned on the center line of the manipulating lever 52.

In the above movement as descriptive of Figure 4 it has been pointed out that the captive ball was propelled in such a manner as to cause it to deviate to the left, which indicates in the language of golf a hook, and the movements coincident with such a direction of drive have been fully described. However, should the captive ball 8 have been propelled to the right in place of to the left a slice would have taken place and the position of the lever 43 would have been reversed carrying with it connecting parts so that the miniature ball 7 would have indicated a direction to the right of the fair-way 5.

What I claim is:-

1. In a device of the class described, a casing, a miniature golf course within said casing, a captive ball, a cable attached to said captive ball, a drum, said cable attached to said drum, a secondary drum attached to said drum, a secondary cable attached to said secondary drum, a spring controlled drum to which an extreme outer end of said secondary cable is attached, a knot provided on said secondary cable, a lever provided with an opening at an extreme end throughwhich the secondary cable passes, a gear segment, a spring tensioned pawl pivoted upon said lever and contacting with the outer surface of the gear segment, a pair of movable arms oppositely disposed with inner ends pivoted, sheaves carried on outer ends of said movable arms, a cord carried by said sheaves, a miniature ball attached to said cord, means including a gear meshing with said gear segment and a drum positioned adjacent to said gear for moving said cord and miniature ball over said sheaves in a' delayed action relative to movement of said captive ball, means including a slice actuating-pulley, a pinion attached thereto, a lever and a gear together with a link secured to said lever and tosaid gear in a pivoted manner for moving said movable arms to indicate a deviation of said captive ball to the right, means including a hook actuating pulley and a pinion attached thereto together with said lever and said gear and the link secured to said lever and said gear for moving said movable arms to indicate a deviation of said captive ball to the left.

2. In a device of the class described, a casing, a miniature golf course within said casing, a captive ball, a cable attached to said captive ball, a drum, said cable attached to said drum, a secondary drum attached to said drum, a secondary cable attached to said secondary drum, a spring controlled drum to which an extreme outer end of said secondary cable is attached, a knot provided on said secondary cable, a lever provided with an opening at an extreme end through which the secondary cable passes, a gear segment, a spring tensioned pawl pivoted upon said lever and contacting with the outer surface of the gear segment, a pair of movable arms oppositely disposed with inner ends pivoted, sheaves carried on outer ends of said movable arms, a cord carried by said sheaves, a miniature ball attached to said cord, means including a gear meshing with said gear segment and a drum positioned adjacent to said gear for moving said cord and miniature ball over said sheaves in a delayed action relative to movement of said captive ball, a hook actuating pulley, a gear functioning with said hook actuating pulley, a link attached to said gear and a lever pivoted to extreme end of said link for the purpose of moving said movable arms to indicate a deviation of said captive ball to the left, a slice actuating pulley functioning with same gear and link and lever for the purpose of indicating a deviation of said captive ball to the right, means for holding said miniature golf ball in any position on said miniature golf course in order to indicate the direction of the flight of said captive ball, a release rod for releasing said holding means.

GEORGE W. BICKERTON. 

